For four days and three nights, Alex Deutinger & Alexander Gottfarb live and work in the temporary outdoor quarters of the fictitious Department of Artificial Security at Pius-Parsch Square and negotiate issues surrounding freedom, security and the protection of fundamental rights in public space.

As two fully equipped emergency police officers, the artists construct their security headquarters, a six-meter-high sculpture, whose appearance is somewhere between a watchtower and a cage, built entirely out of crowd control barriers.
From here they perform surveillance routines, patrol within a defined area in Floridsdorf, and make contact with passersby through spontaneous interventions and poetic interactions.

Alex Deutinger & Alexander Gottfarb’s work reflects on political developments, historical dimensions, scopes of action and possibilities for the use of public space.

At the heart of While No One Is Watching lies the question of which effects an increasingly militarized police presence in public space has on the subjective sense of security of Viennese citizens.

Guest performance: Charlotta Ruth